Bible Strands
Genesis 49:28
These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jacob concludes his prophetic addresses to his twelve sons near the end of his life, immediately before giving final instructions for his own burial.
The words — אֵ֛לֶּה ('E.leh) translates as "these," and כָּל־ (kol-) means "all," structuring the verse as a formal summation of the preceding blessings.
The thread — The twelve-tribe enumeration recurs in Revelation 7:4 as a sealed count from all the tribes of Israel, and the definitive closing formula aligns with the authoritative declarations found in Esther 8:11 and Ezekiel 39:8.
Why it lands — The text records Jacob's explicit count of the twelve tribes and his act of imparting individualized blessings, requiring the reader to recognize the completed tribal foundation before Jacob's death narrative proceeds.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
Cross-references
- Esther 8:11 By these letters the king permitted the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province hostile to them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions.
- Ezekiel 39:8 Yes, it is coming, and it will surely happen, declares the Lord GOD. This is the day of which I have spoken.
- Revelation 7:4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel:
- Genesis 35:22 While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:
- Numbers 23:24 Behold, the people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion, not resting until they devour their prey and drink the blood of the slain.”
- 1 Kings 18:31 And Elijah took twelve stones, one for each tribe of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come and said, “Israel shall be your name.”
- Esther 8:7 So King Xerxes said to Esther the Queen and Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews.
- Esther 8:9 At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush—writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.
- Esther 9:1 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the king’s command and edict were to be executed. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but their plan was overturned and the Jews overpowered those who hated them.
- Zechariah 14:1 Behold, a day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence.